that are, will again be (no more).  Grief has no power to restore them.  One should not, therefore, indulge in grief.  Where, O king, is thy sire to-day, and where thy grandsire?  Thou seest them not today, nor do they see thee now.  Reflecting on thy own instability, who dost thou grieve for them?  Reflect with the aid of thy intelligence, and thou wilt understand that verily thou shalt cease to be.  Myself, thyself, O king, thy friends, and thy foes, shall, without doubt, cease to be.  Indeed, everything will cease to be.  Those men that are now of twenty or thirty years of age will, without doubt, all die within the next hundred years.  If a man cannot have the heart to give up his vast possessions, he should then endeavour to think his possessions are not his own and by that means seek to do good to himself.[320] Acquisitions that are future should be regarded by one as not one’s own.  Acquisitions that have disappeared, should also be regarded by one as not one’s own.  Destiny should be regarded as all powerful.  They that think in this strain are said to be possessed of wisdom.  Such a habit of looking at things is an attribute of the good.  Many persons who are equal or superior to thee in intelligence and exertion, though deprived of wealth, are not only alive but are never ruling kingdoms.  They are not, like thee.  They do not indulge in grief like thee.  Therefore, cease thou to grieve in this way.  Art thou not Superior to those men, or at least equal to them in intelligence and exertion?’” The king said, ’I regard the kingdom which I had with all its appendages to have been won by me without any exertion.  All-powerful Time, however, O regenerate one, has swept it away.  The consequence, however, that I see, of my kingdom having been swept away by Time as by a stream, is that I am obliged to support upon whatever I obtain (by charity).’

“The sage said, ’Moved by the knowledge of what is true (in life) one should never grieve for either the past or the future.  Be thou of such a frame of mind.  O prince of Kosala, in respect of every affair that may engage thy attention.  Desiring to obtain only that which is obtainable and not that which is unobtainable, do thou enjoy thy present possessions and never grieved for that which is absent.  Be thou delighted, O prince of Kosala, with whatever thou succeedest in winning with ease.  Even if divested of prosperity, do not grieve for Abut seek to preserve a pure disposition.  Only an unfortunate man who is of a foolish understanding, when deprived of former prosperity, censures the supreme Ordainer, without being contented with his present possessions.  Such a person regards others, however undeserving, as men blessed with prosperity.  For this reason, they that are possessed of malice and vanity and filled with a sense of their own importance, suffer more misery still.  Thou however, O king, art not stained by such vices.  Endure the prosperity of others although thou art thyself divested of prosperity.